A. Field of the Invention
The field of the present invention relates generally to apparatuses used to provide food and water to animals, particularly dogs, cats and other pets. More specifically, the present invention relates to such apparatuses that have a food container portion provided with an automatic water dispenser portion. Even more specifically, the present invention relates to such apparatuses that are configured to prevent crawling insects, such as ants and the like, from getting into the supply of food.
B. Background
Many people have animals that live in and around their home, often in the backyard or other outdoor areas adjacent the home. With regard to domesticated animals, particularly pets such as dogs, cats and the like, the animal typically depends on their human owners for food and water. Generally, the person feeds the animals on a regular basis and supplies water on an as needed basis (i.e., as the water level in the water container becomes low). When feeding their animal, people commonly feed the animal once or twice a day at or about the same time each day and typically provide the animal with more food than it can eat at a single sitting. As a result, some portion of the food tends to sit in the food dish for an extended period of time. When the animal's owner or caretaker is going to be away from the home for more than a day or so, it is very common for them to place more than one day's food supply in the food container so that the animal may eat the food when it is hungry. When taking care of multiple animals, such as several dogs, the problem of food remaining in the food dish for extended periods of time is exasperated due to the fact that enough food is needed for all the animals and that they often do not eat the same amount at the same time. In certain parts of the country, particularly the Southwest where the weather is often warm or hot, water does not remain in the water container for very long. Between the animals needing more water to drink due to the heat and the normal process of evaporation, the water container is often very low and must be checked and refilled several times a day, particularly when utilized with multiple animals. When the pet's owner or caretaker will be away, he or she must either place out multiple water containers or make arrangements with a relative or neighbor to check and refill the water container(s). Failure to do so can result in injury or death to the animals.
One particular problem with leaving food in the animal's food dish for any period of time is that the food often becomes infested with ants and/or other crawling insects. Although this problem is particularly a concern when the owner or caretaker will be gone and has to leave more than one day's food supply out for his or her animals, it is also a concern for animals that are fed every day due to the food that is not consumed at a single sitting. As is well known, even when the food dish appears empty there are sufficient scraps to attract insects to the food dish. For various reasons, the animal's owner or caretaker will typically wash out the food dish or take other appropriate action to remove the insects from the food dish before refilling it with food. When some of the previous day's food remains in the food dish it will typically be completely infested by insects, making the cleaning of the food dish prior to refilling that much more difficult. Often this involves removing the food dish from the feeding area and taking it to an outdoor faucet or hose or bringing it indoors to wash it out in order to provide the animals with a clean dish for their food. Besides the fact that this task is often quite unpleasant, particularly if the food dish has food remaining in it that is full of ants or other potentially biting insects, it is time consuming and can result in the owner/caretaker getting wet or having food and insects splashed on his or her person. In addition to insect infestation of the food dish being a problem for the animal's food and the feeding activity, the food dish also attracts insects to the area used to feed the animals, resulting in the area being more prone to insect problems.
A number of combination feeding and watering apparatuses are known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,128,080 to Haney describes an animal feeder that utilizes the animal's water container as a moat or barrier to crawling insects so as to keep insects out of an animal's food supply. In this patent, the food dish is mounted to and above the water container by a non-circular post extending upwardly from the water container that has a bracket which connects to and supports the food dish in an off-center position so the food dish only extends to one side of the post in order to provide the animal with easy access to most of the water container. U.S. Pat. No. 2,543,465 to Morey discloses a combination feeding and watering device for animals that utilizes a lower food dish having a removable water container threadably received in the food dish and extending upwardly therefrom. While this apparatus does supply both food and water to animals and appears to prevent the animals from spilling the water container, it does not prevent insects from crawling into the food dish. Another combination feeding and watering apparatus is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,450,101 to Avrea. In this apparatus, food is stored in a feed reservoir that supplies food to an extendable tray on a pre-set or automatic basis, such as a timer or the like, that utilizes water pressure to move the tray in and out. A separate watering container, having a float valve, is connected to the supply of water to provide water to the animal. No provision is made in this apparatus, particularly in a moat fashion, to keep insects out of the food dish. Although patents describing float-controlled watering devices have long been available, such as U.S. Pat. No. 1,028,998 (which issued in 1912), utilizing various types of float valve mechanisms to maintain the water in the water container at a certain water level, none of the known devices have been combined with feeding apparatuses configured to keep insects out of the food dish. Examples of such float-controlled patents include U.S. Pat. No. 4,470,371 to Strickland, U.S. Pat. No. 3,841,268 to Bunger and U.S. Pat. No. 3,759,228 to Keen. The patents described above are representative of feeding and/or watering apparatuses known in the prior art.
Although the prior art discloses a number of pet feeding and/or watering apparatuses, there are certain characteristics of the known apparatuses that limit their complete acceptance, usefulness and/or cost effectiveness. For instance, it is well known that the apparatuses that do not provide for the exclusion of insects are subject to the aforementioned problems with regard to insect infestation. In addition, the apparatuses that only provide a watering system are not easily or effectively adaptable to use as a feeding apparatus, therefore requiring a second feeding dish that is not protected from crawling insects, thereby limiting their effectiveness. Some of the previously referenced apparatuses utilize relatively complicated mechanisms that are likely to be expensive to manufacture and more likely to have a tendency to malfunction or otherwise break. What is needed, therefore, is a combined animal feeding and watering apparatus that substantially prevents the infestation of crawling insects into the feeding dish or reservoir and provides for automatic maintenance of the water level in the water container or reservoir. The apparatus should be relatively inexpensive to manufacture, simple to utilize and have an easily removed feeding dish to facilitate its cleaning, as may be necessary or desired.